Answering the question before it could be asked, Stanford head coach David Shaw said Tuesday, "No, we're not looking forward to USC."

His No. 11 Cardinal are huge favorites for Saturday's season-opening home game against UC Davis, a week before they host the No. 15 Trojans.

But as a Stanford alumnus, Shaw remembers having "a pit in my stomach" in 2005 when he found out the Aggies had shocked the Cardinal 20-17. Stanford, then coached by Walt Harris, went on to a 5-6 record, a far cry from the golden era the Cardinal now enjoy.

Shaw was an assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens at the time. "It was a rough day, especially since I had a couple of Cal guys on the team," he said.

Aside from reminding those on his current roster that "if you don't strap it up, we have a chance to lose," Shaw said he won't stress the outcome of the last Stanford-UC Davis meeting to his players - it might as well be ancient history to them, as they weren't even in high school at the time.

Still, Stanford will have wholesale changes to its starting lineup from last year and lacks the 220-pound running back it had in Tyler Gaffney. But the offense seems to have more weapons.

The most explosive may be wide receiver and kick returner Ty Montgomery, who was cleared Monday to play after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Shaw said that any conversation about Heisman Trophy candidates should include Montgomery.

"From the beginning of training camp, he's been awesome," he said.

Kelsey Young will get first crack at tailback, but Barry Sanders, Ricky Seale, Remound Wright and freshman Christian McCaffrey all will get the ball at some point Saturday, Shaw added. Additionally, fullbacks Lee Ward and Patrick Skov might carry in short-yardage situations.

"What put Kelsey on top was being the most consistent since last spring through training camp," Shaw said, adding that the gap separating him from the others "isn't great."

According to quarterback Kevin Hogan, the offense might not be quite as conservative as it has been in the past. The primary goal of running the ball by dominating the line of scrimmage remains, he said, but "it's very likely" the offense will open up.

"We have to get the ball outside to our playmakers and tight ends and running backs on the edge," he said. "They're too fast and too athletic to just have them run up the middle."

Meanwhile, Hogan echoed his coach on the players not looking past UC Davis to USC. Some fans certainly will, he said, "but I don't see that in our locker room.

"We started game-planning for UC Davis midweek of last week, probably the most amount of time that we'll spend on a game plan outside of a bye week. Our focus is on them. We're not worried about how they're projected to do. It's our first game, and we want to come out strong."